


Worth

by got_the_bite



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Archie Saves The Day, Gen, Hurt Jughead Jones, Hypothermia, Possible Jughead/Archie, Post 2x09, Southside/Northside Rivalry, southsidewritingchallenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 05:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13404069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/got_the_bite/pseuds/got_the_bite
Summary: After disbanding Southside High, Jughead and the Serpents keep butting heads with certain members of the football team. Jughead is a target of the Bulldogs, and Archie is there for the aftermath of a particularly dangerous run-in.





	Worth

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the #southsidewritingchallenge that Southsidejuggie is hosting over on Tumblr. 
> 
> Category: Angst  
> Prompt: "Well, was it worth it?"
> 
> *Not beta-read, so try to ignore all my stupid little grammatical errors.*

"Well, was it worth it?"

His wrists hurt and his knees were cold.

"Was it?"

He couldn’t see and he couldn’t move. The icy, iron beam behind him sent chills through his leather jacket, and he held back a shudder.

"I'm asking you a question!"

**_BAM_ **

He tried to gasp, taking a sucker punch to the gut, but it was a sound that couldn’t travel past his teeth.

"Was walking around OUR territory, flaunting YOUR gang membership, worth it now?"

He wanted to make a snarky comment and answer these questions, but whatever was tied around his face just left him a gargling mess. He refused to cry though. He refused to give him the satisfaction of breaking.

"Speak up!"

**_SMACK_ **

His cheek stung behind the numbness that the cold had already caused.

"Was..."

**_WHAM_ **

His breath was lost as his ribs creaked; he swore he could hear them groaning.

"It..."

**_POW_ **

He tasted the sting of iron behind his gag.

"Worth it?!"

**_CRACK_ **

His head rang; the poll it was slammed against vibrated from the force of the blow.

“You should’ve stayed gone, worthless serpent trash…”

If Jughead had the capability to see up until this point, everything would have gone dark. Things did seem to get blacker as each pair of footsteps crunched away from him in the snow. The blindfolded boy crumpled even further into the slushy ground, alone and senseless.

\---

Archie opened his phone one more time to make sure he'd remembered the date correctly. He and Jughead were supposed to go and see some old black and white film last night (Jughead raved about it; Archie had never heard of it), but he never texted him back about getting a ride and didn’t bother showing up at the theater. Archie wasn’t really complaining. He had tried looking for a way out of sitting through another one of Jughead’s so-called “masterpieces,” and had managed to go out with Veronica instead, so the night wasn't completely wasted. He was just annoyed that, once again, Jughead had found something else to focus on instead of their slightly struggling friendship.

But it was strange.

He'd expected to see a text, when he woke up that morning, apologizing for forgetting about their plans. Sometimes Jughead spread himself too thin and could be scattered, and Archie knew that the transition to and from Southside High was taking its toll on him and his new found “friends”. He thought giving him some space while he settled in again was a good idea.

Archie scrolled from his calendar to his text messages and checked one more time to see if Jughead had responded at all.

Nope. Just Archie, sending a number of one-sided messages like, "Dude you coming or what?"

Something felt off, so Archie texted Betty to see if she'd heard from him. She had gone away for the long January weekend with her mother to visit Polly at the farm, but he figured that maybe Jughead mentioned something to her. Things were a little rocky between the two, but they were still friendly at least. While he waited for her to text back, he called FP's trailer only to get the answering machine. Betty had texted saying she hadn't heard from him either, but she also mentioned that she wasn't really expecting to.

It was at this moment that he wished he had Toni’s number or Sweet Pea’s. It hurt to think that Jughead had blown off their plans to hang out with his new friends, but he’d rather have his feelings hurt than to find out Jughead was in some real trouble somewhere.

Archie sighed and finally caved opening the "Find My Friends" app on his phone. This was something Betty had insisted the four of them install during the whole Black Mask fiasco. Veronica, Archie, and Jughead all argued that it was an invasion of privacy, but complied to ease Betty's mind. None of them had ever used it to Archie's knowledge, but now he was worried. Something just didn’t seem right…

He tapped on Jughead's name and watched as his screen showed the entire map of Riverdale, before narrowing down to the Northside, and then to the high school...and finally resting on the Bulldog's home turf...the football field.

Did Jughead lose his phone? Why was he over there?

Archie watched his screen for a minute, waiting for the location to move or change, but it didn't. The blinking circle just remained settled on the north end of the field. Blink blink blinking...

With a sigh, Archie grabbed the keys to the truck. He was sure Jughead had just dropped his phone or something, but his mind wasn’t going to leave him alone until he found out.

If anything, he was being his “good Samaritan” self by finding Jughead’s “possibly lost” phone for him.

\---

Archie pulled his truck up to the fence on the edge of the field and looked around. He didn't see anything going on. Nothing was happening at the school because it was a three-day, holiday weekend; no cars were in the parking lot and there was no sign of Jughead's bike. Archie put the truck in park and climbed out; leaning against the fence his breath became a cloud as he called out "Jughead?"

Of course there was no response, and he felt sort of silly. Here he was, out at the football field in below freezing weather…without gloves no less. Maybe the app had been wrong, or maybe Jughead was writing a puff piece on the Bulldogs and dropped his phone here while doing research.

Archie had no _real_ reason to worry. The Black Hood was dead. The Ghoulies had practically disbanded after that drag racing incident. The only real drama happening now was Reggie and his football cronies trying to start some sort of school feud with the Serpents. They were practically “Jughead's Serpents,” but still…it had been just a few minor run-ins between classes. Just a few small spats. There was nothing to _really_ be worried about. If Reggie or anyone was planning on something, Archie would surely know.

_Right?_

Archie jumped the fence and took a walk around the bleachers. It was quiet and it was cold, but something was bothering him now that he stopped to think about it. It was something he heard Reggie mutter to Jughead Friday afternoon as they passed each other in the hallway. Reggie slammed his shoulder against Jughead as they crossed paths and said, "This is my house, you worthless snake."

Archie had watched Jughead freeze and tense up, like he was considering going after the football star. Archie had grabbed his elbow and muttered something reassuring, and then had promptly forgotten about it.

Now he just wanted one good look at the field and then he would be gone. His eyes were squinting against the glare of the bright snow and, as he rounded the bleachers and looked to the left, he saw something. A dark shape was at the base of the home team’s goalpost. Archie thought it was a bag of trash at first, but then he looked further and his eyes widened. He sprinted across the slushy field, only now noticing the footprints that indicated a struggle had taken place there fairly recently.

"Jughead!"

Archie slid next to where Jughead was crumpled at the base of the goalpost. His wrists were loosely bound behind the poll, his beanie had been pulled down over his eyes, and a makeshift cloth gag had been placed in his mouth. His legs were at an odd angle, like he had slid down the post and landed sprawled out like a ragdoll.

He was freezing; Archie’s gloveless fingers nervously touched the skin exposed flesh on Jughead’s cheek. His skin was pale white under the dark blood that had dripped from beneath his hat and down the left side of his face. His lips were blue under the blood, and Archie realized in horror that he must’ve been out here all night.

Archie managed to untie the frost-covered bindings on his wrists with some difficultly and pulled the hat up so his eyes were no longer covered. His left eye was swollen and his lips were cracked, but he couldn’t tell if anything else was wrong.

"Jughead!" Archie could see small puffs of cold breath in the frosty air, but when he checked for his pulse along his neck, he couldn’t actually feel it because it was so faint. His skin was like ice, even though he was bundled in his leather jacket with gloves and a scarf.

"C'mon Jug, wake up..." He pulled his limp friend into his arms wanting him to groan or to shiver, to do something that would prove he was going to be all right. He was silent and still.

Archie cradled the boy and jogged back to his truck, strapped his friend into the passenger seat and turned the heat on high. Ice had formed on the edges of his serpent jacket and crusted along the top of his beanie. Jughead’s slack jaw unnerved Archie, especially since he could no longer see if he was breathing in the warmer air.

"Hang on, buddy. Just hang in there."

Archie sped to the hospital having déjà vu, since the last time he'd made this trek was when his father had been shot. He hoped this wasn't going to be a regular thing...Archie's Ambulance Service...nearly as reliable as Uber.

\---

“BP’s 70/40…”

He tasted cold and blood.

“Core temp’s at 84 degrees…respiratory rate is too low…intubate…”

He felt heavy and white.

“Push another 50cc’s warm saline…”

He heard a ringing and a muffled.

“He’s going…shock…BP’s 50/35…dropping…”

He didn’t fight the sleep this time.

\---

Something was tickling his nose. He tried to brush it away but he couldn’t fully control his arm for some reason, and he felt someone grab his wrist before he smacked himself in the face.

“Arch…?” he rasped, feeling a cough climb up his throat before he could stop it. He hacked and wheezed, feeling the sharp sensation start to subside when a straw touched his lips. He drank greedily until he was able to control his breath.

“Hey, Jug. You’re okay now. You had us worried, but everything’s okay now...”

Jughead opened his eyes, wincing at the sharpness of the hospital light. There was an oxygen tube around his face, causing the tickling sensation to his nose. His hand had a number of tubes connected to it, and he was bundled in warmth as well as confusion.

“Wha’ happened?” His voice was croaky, wheezy whisper.

“I found you tied up on the football field two days ago. Reggie and a few of the guys on the team admitted to it. The police are talking to them now.”

Jughead frowned, trying to remember these events. He had a foggy recollection of being grabbed around 9pm on his way to meet Archie, but not too much after that. The sounds coming from the TV, from whatever movie Archie had been watching, weren’t helping him concentrate either.

“My dad?” The realization that his father wasn’t in the room right now terrified Jughead.

“Hey, Jug, calm down,” Archie soothed seeing the panic enter his eyes. “My dad just took your dad to get something to eat. He's barely left this room.” Archie looked nervous for a second before continuing. “He was livid when my dad brought him here. I know he’d have the Serpents after the entire team if he didn't know you were against a Northside Southside war…”

“Thank god…for small…miracles…” His words were sluggish still, but so were this thoughts. He looked over and saw a chair in the corner housing his beanie and jacket.

"The doc said you were pretty bruised but that none of your cuts needed stitches, so that's a good thing too, huh?"

Archie gave a small smile and Jughead shuddered violently, his teeth chattering. Archie put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“He also said some tremors would be normal as your temperature rises.”

“How low was it?”

“Around 84 when I got you here.”

“Holy shit…” Jughead breathed. “I didn’t know…it could be…that low.”

“Me either, until I googled hypothermia and found a story of a girl who survived with a body temperature of 55 degree or something.”

Jughead shuddered again and Archie kept his hand on his shoulder.

“I could kill Reggie for this,” he mumbled. “I mean, he almost killed you. I guess he just kept telling Kevin’s dad that he didn’t realize how cold it was going to be…fucking idiot…”

“Don’t go to jail…on my account, Andrews,” Jughead wheezed with a slight laugh. “How long…this last?” He waved his hand lazily, indicating the general weakness he felt.

“They mentioned keeping you for another two or three days. They want to make sure your digits and limbs are still functioning as they should be.”

Jughead slowly waggled his pinky in front of Archie’s face with a small smirk before dropping his hand back to the bed. His eyes started to droop as the TV droned in the background, and Archie let them; Jughead was lucky and needed his rest.

He had turned his attention back to the classic movie channel he had put on in the hopes of enticing his friend out of his comatose state, when he heard a mumble from the bed.

“Mmmm… it was...”

Archie frowned slightly, sort of thinking Jughead was falling back into his dreams and delusions.

“What?” he questioned. “What was?”

“It was worth it…” Jughead’s eyes opened slightly at these words.

“Huh?”

“Reggie asked…if coming back was…was worth it…” Jughead just couldn’t keep his eyes open, and they slowly shut again. “It was…worth it. Coming back…to you…”

Archie smiled and squeezed his friend’s hand, letting him drift back into a world without the Northside or the Southside…a simple world with well-written films and good friends to watch them with.

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since I started watching Riverdale a few months ago, I've been OBSESSED with Jughead. I'm totally out of my fic writing game, which why I signed up for a few contests so forced myself to actually produce a completed fic. I don't know where this fic really came from, but I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> Leave a comment if you also love hurt!Jughead. =]


End file.
